


The Sweetest Gift is a Pulled Muscle

by Dresupi, treaddelicately



Category: Hawkeye (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Christmas Tree, F/M, Fluff, Holidays, Love, Snow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:48:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23307055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dresupi/pseuds/Dresupi, https://archiveofourown.org/users/treaddelicately/pseuds/treaddelicately
Summary: Clint gives up his day off to help Darcy and her family at the tree lot her dad owns.
Relationships: Clint Barton/Darcy Lewis
Comments: 45
Kudos: 68
Collections: Marching Orders





	1. Chapter 1

**The Sweetest Gift Is A Pulled Muscle** written by Dresupi

moodboard by treaddelicately


	2. Chapter 2

“I can do this all day,” Clint assured her, even as his arms hung limply at his sides. His grin was more of a grimace too, now that she was looking. His cheeks were flushed pink with the cold and when he exhaled, there was a white puff of air that dissipated almost immediately. 

Darcy glanced over to where her dad was currently taking money for two more trees. Which would bring the Lewis Family Tree Lot down to less than twenty trees in total. Surely her brother and her dad could handle the rest of them without Clint. 

“C’mon, Strong-Man, let’s get goin’.” 

“Naw, I got this,” Clint assured her, clapping his hands together and wincing seconds later. 

“C’mon…” Darcy threaded her arm around one of his and tugged him gently towards her dad. 

“Dad, we’re gonna head out. Y’all got this from here, right?” she asked, glancing around the nearly empty tree lot. The only thing that would indicate that this lot was packed to the brim with Christmas trees only two days before was the slew of pine needles carpeting the slush in the lot. 

“Heck yeah, we can!” Dad replied, grinning widely and waving. “Thanks again for helping out today, you two!” 

“It’s no trouble at all,” Clint replied, trying and failing to pull his hand up to wave. 

Darcy rolled her eyes and grabbed his arm and waved it for him. “We’re outta here, I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Dad! Ben! Later, idiot!” She called over to her brother, who was showing off his newly found strength from his growth spurt by trying to outdo Clint with the tree hauling. 

Ben promptly held up his middle finger in response, but Dad shielded most of the customers from her brother’s crudeness by pushing his hand back down to his side. “That means ‘drive carefully,” Ben argued. 

Laughin, she steered Clint back to the car. 

“I can drive,” he offered feebly as she tucked him into the passenger seat. 

“You just rest those beefy biceps of yours,” she replied, smoothing her hand over the top of his head and yanking his hat off in the process. She pressed a kiss to his sweaty forehead and moved back to close the door. 

Scurrying around the car, Darcy was soon tucked into the driver’s seat and they were on their way back to the highway. The ride home wasn’t super long, but Clint still fell asleep. With the song stylings of Mitch Miller as her soundtrack, Darcy cranked the heat and sang her way back home. 

Just as they pulled up outside Clint’s apartment, it started snowing. She could tell it was freezing just by looking at it, so she kept the car idling for a few minutes while she watched the white stuff fall around them. 

Clint snored softly in the seat beside her and she gazed over at him. There weren’t many guys who would give up their day off to go haul Christmas trees for her Dad’s yearly money-grabbing endeavor. Hell, she didn’t even want to do it, but she had to. Because her dad helped give her life or whatever. 

To be fair, it had started as a way for him to give Ben and her a proper Christmas when he’d lost his job three weeks before Christmas so many years ago. But it had turned into a very stressful tradition that carried on to this day. 

And Clint had hauled half those trees to people’s cars. And he hadn’t complained once. 

Tears burned behind her eyelids as her heart swelled Grinch-style in her chest. She leaned over and kissed the tip of his nose. 

He snorted when he woke up. “You need me to drive?” he asked blearily. 

She shook her head. “Nah, we’re home.” 

“What?” he glanced rapidly around and made a face. “Aw, sorry, Darce. I wanted to at least drive some of that.” 

“You were tired,” she waved him off. “Besides. I love you, so I didn’t care.” 

He beamed over at her. “I love you too, babe.” 

“I know you do. But I just needed to say it.” 

He lifted his arm to brush a strand of hair out of her face. He abruptly groaned and dropped it again. “Forgot about that.” 

“Okay, let’s go in. Get you a hot shower and then I’ll give you your Christmas present early…” she said, hoping to capture a mysterious tone. 

“I don’t want it early, what do I get to open on Christmas then?” he pouted. 

“It’s just _one_ of your presents. It’s something I technically got for me, but it’s a present for _you_.” 

“Is it something for you to wear? Because those are my favorite.” 

It _was_ , but she wasn’t going to admit that he’d guessed it just yet. She still had to get him inside and in the shower. 

“Maybe, maybe not. You get to find out quicker if you get inside and go take a shower.” 

“Fine, but if it’s something for you to wear, I’m going to play through the pain, because you know I can’t keep my hands to myself.” 

“Nope, I know,” she laughed. “I was banking on that, actually.” 


End file.
